THE IRAN--CONTRA HEARINGS : Robertson Insists North Did Tell Him About Iran Trip in 1985

Despite Lt. Col. Oliver L. North’s sworn assertion to the contrary, television evangelist Pat Robertson maintained Tuesday that he and North “bumped into each other” in 1985 and that the former White House aide told him he was then en route to Iran to conduct negotiations over American hostages.

“That’s accurate. It happened,” Robertson told reporters after being informed that North, in testimony earlier Tuesday before the congressional Iran- contra investigating committees, described Robertson’s statement as “in error.”

At the hearings on Capitol Hill, Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) asked North to confirm a story published last Saturday in The Times in which Robertson stated that he and North “happened to bump into each other” on Sept. 13, 1985, at a private air terminal in Washington. “He just happened to say I’m going to Iran to meet some of the leadership to try to negotiate the release of some of our hostages,” Robertson, a presidential aspirant, had said in a speech July 10 to Young Republicans in Seattle.

North testified that “I do not recall that conversation. I also note that, if it was Sept. 13, 1985, it is well before we had made those plans” to travel to Iran. North said his journey to Tehran was planned in February, 1986, and not undertaken until May of that year.

When asked point-blank by Nunn if Robertson’s memory was correct, North replied: “It is in error, sir.”

But Robertson, although saying that “Ollie North is a great American hero,” insisted that the encounter had taken place. As evidence, Robertson referred to a Sept. 20, 1985, interview he conducted with President Reagan on Robertson’s evangelical talk show, “The 700 Club.”

According to a transcript of that televised interview, Robertson told Reagan, “We were very heartened to learn that . . . a member of the White House staff was dispatched on Sunday to Iran to seek the release of the remaining” hostages. Robertson then asked, “Is there any word on that that might give hope to us?”

Reagan replied, “Well, I can’t really talk about what we’re doing ‘cause I don’t want to do anything that will endanger the prospects of others being freed.” The President did not confirm Robertson’s assertion, saying only that “going public and being in the paper is not the way to get a Rev. (Benjamin) Weir (a hostage released Sept. 14, 1985) back or any of the others.”

Robertson said Tuesday that Reagan’s comments indicated that the President had known about North’s alleged 1985 journey. “If it wasn’t true, I would think that the first rejoinder would be: ‘Well, that’s not true, I have no official family in negotiations.’ But that’s not the answer I got (from Reagan). The answer was: ‘I don’t wish to negotiate on the front page of the newspapers.’

“I think any reasonable person would indicate that the President was fully informed on it and I said today that I applaud his efforts,” Robertson said.

Robertson said he did not believe North was lying about the meeting. Instead, he ascribed North’s contradiction of his account to what he said was the colonel’s faulty memory.

Robertson, a Republican, was in Sacramento seeking support for a possible presidential bid. He has said he will declare himself a candidate on Sept. 17 if he has collected 3 million signatures in support of his campaign by that date.